When the NBA held its annual pre-draft camp in Chicago earlier this month, even the studliest prospects got the raw-recruit treatment. "They pinch and poke and prod you," says out-to-pasture studhorse Bill Walton, who has long insisted that he's an honest 6-foot-11. "Then they put the calipers on you. It's like submitting yourself to one of the Big Five accounting firms."

The Timberwolves' Kevin Garnett, though widely thought to be 7-foot, is listed at 6-11 at his insistence. Why? He doesn't want any coach to get the notion to stick him at center.

North Carolina had a parade of not-quite-7-footers, including Brad Daugherty (6-11 3/4 in the press guide) and Warren Martin (officially 6-11 1/2), until Matt Wenstrom matriculated at Chapel Hill in 1993 at 7-1. Why didn't Dean Smith round up for all those years? According to one pale-blue source, the Tar Heels coach long feared that a listing at 7-foot carried with it the pressure of outsized expectations. With Wenstrom he apparently had a change of heart, and Smith went on to list Kevin Salvadori, Eric Montross and Serge Zwikker as 7-footers.

If Earl Boykins hadn't billed himself as 5-8 coming out of high school, no one would have recruited him. He is really 5-5, but his coach at Eastern Michigan, Ben Braun, wouldn't let him be listed at anything below 5-7, lest Braun's peers think Braun -- the only coach to offer Boykins a scholarship -- was nuts. Only as a senior in Ypsilanti did Boykins feel he could 'fess up to his true size.

If they aren't smoked out at the pre-draft camp, padded heights get exposed at USA Basketball team trials. It was in the run-up to the 1992 Olympics that the world finally learned what the cognoscenti had long suspected -- that Charles Barkley was more like 6-4 5/8 than 6-6, and Magic Johnson closer to 6-7 than 6-9. Likewise, it was a measurement in 1988 before the Games (citius, altius -- but not unduly altius) that exposed Danny Manning, who had been a 6-11 freshman at Kansas, as a 6-9 NBA draftee-to-be.

So Magic is closer to 6'7"...that could mean 6'7 1/2" or 6'7" flat I don't know. Barkley was measured at 6'4 5/8" according to Sports Illustrated and Brad Daugherty is 6'11 3/4" I am going to look for the 1992 measurements.

Jordan, who is 6' 6 1/2", 201 pounds, emerged last season -- only his second on the varsity -- as merely the finest all-around amateur player in the world. "There is one phenomenon in college ball," says Tom Newell, a scout for the Golden State Warriors and the radio color man for the University of Virginia, "and his name is Michael Jordan."

This article has Jordan at 6'6 1/2(I assume in shoes) making him 6'5 1/2 barefoot. The Olympics knocked 2 inches off everyone in the 1992 Olympics.

Lebron23 do you have any idea how tall Patrick Ewing really is? I have no idea! He said 6'9" which i thought might have meant 6'9 3/4" but he often looks taller than that.

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Ewing looks 4 inches shorter than Mutombo(7'1"), Ewing looks the same height as Larry Bird(6'9"), less than an inch taller than Alonzo Mourning(6'9") and about 4 inches shorter than Shaq(7'1") and 7 inches taller than John Starks(6'2") These pictures support Ewing being in the 6'9-6'10" range

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Patrick looks as tall as Greg Oden(6'11 1/2") and much taller than Bill Russell 6'9"(6'9 1/2" in his prime) In this picture he also looks only 2 inches shorter than Mutombo and nearly 3 inches taller than Mourning!

What do you think for Ewing..I can't find his barefoot height anywhere.

Lebron23 do you have any idea how tall Patrick Ewing really is? I have no idea! He said 6'9" which i thought might have meant 6'9 3/4" but he often looks taller than that.

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Ewing looks 4 inches shorter than Mutombo(7'1"), Ewing looks the same height as Larry Bird(6'9"), less than an inch taller than Alonzo Mourning(6'9") and about 4 inches shorter than Shaq(7'1") and 7 inches taller than John Starks(6'2") These pictures support Ewing being in the 6'9-6'10" range

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Patrick looks as tall as Greg Oden(6'11 1/2") and much taller than Bill Russell 6'9"(6'9 1/2" in his prime) In this picture he also looks only 2 inches shorter than Mutombo and nearly 3 inches taller than Mourning!

What do you think for Ewing..I can't find his barefoot height anywhere.

I think Patrick Ewing is between 6'10- 6'11, I think he was only joking around when he said that he was 6'9, no one would believe that story because the guy is a few inches taller than most 6'9 in the NBA. I think Ewing is a legit 6'10 and 6'11 1/4 in his basketball shoes.

I think Patrick Ewing is between 6'10- 6'11, I think he was only joking around when he said that he was 6'9, no one would believe that story because the guy is a few inches taller than most 6'9 in the NBA. I think Ewing is a legit 6'10 and 6'11 1/4 in his basketball shoes.

6'10" sounds about right because Shaq and Mutombo have 3 inches on Ewing. He could be 6'11". Here are heights NBA players have admitted.

Maybe we should start a new thread. This one is kind of messy and the new thread would have updated heights plus it belongs in the regular NBA forum and more people would see it. A title of Real NBA Heights would be better.

Maybe we should start a new thread. This one is kind of messy and the new thread would have updated heights plus it belongs in the regular NBA forum and more people would see it. A title of Real NBA Heights would be better.